The invention relates to splicing tools for thermally joining the butt edges of plastic conveyor belts.
Splicing presses are used to weld the butt ends of two thermoplastic conveyor belt sections together. Conventional presses include a pair of clamps, each of which holds one of the two belt sections. The clamps firmly hold the belt sections with the butt ends facing each other across a gap. A heating wand is moved into the gap, and the two clamps close until the butt ends of the belt sections contact opposite sides of the heating wand. As soon as the butt ends are softened or melted sufficiently by the wand's heat, the clamps are retracted and the wand moved out of the way. Then the clamps are moved toward each other until the softened or melted butt ends meet. The clamps hold the butt ends together as the joint at their interface cools. A splicer that is especially useful with thermoplastic materials, such as polyester, that tend to stick to the sides of the wand when the clamps are retracted is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 8,596,622, Dec. 3, 2013, to Robert G. Guttenberg. Although that splicer has a rapid release of the butt ends from the heating wand, the wand has to be manually inserted and removed.